The Scorpion School for Gifted Minds
by Eruanna17
Summary: Paige couldn't decide what she thought of the Scorpion teachers who ate at the diner. They weren't rude, but they were odd. But when Walter tells her that her son is a genius, and offers her a job as the school's counselor, she takes it. Who knows what working at a genius school will be like, but if it helps her son (and Walter), she'll do it. What's the worst that could happen?
1. Geniuses

**Scorpion School for Gifted Minds**  
 **Chapter 1**

 **Hello All! This is my first foray into Scorpion fanfic, but I'm glad to be part of such an awesome fandom. This AU idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is. I've got several more ideas for it (Valentine's Day Dance, Christmas parties, etc), but it'll depend on how inspiration strikes (more reviews often help with inspiration, so let me know if you like it!). Please read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Table six is up. And looks like the genius group is back."

Paige looked over at the door as she grabbed the plate from the window. She couldn't quite decide what she thought of the Scorpion teachers. They weren't rude, exactly, but more… self-involved. Slightly destructive at times, especially when they started arguing about physics and creating complicated catapults or suspension bridges out of the silverware.

They had only come in a few times, but they left a bit of an impression. The woman (Paige assumed ironically) named Happy was gruff and vocal, but tipped well (which always placed people in the 'nice' category for Paige). Toby was always commenting snarkily on something, often getting smacked by Happy for it (she noticed he never really seemed to mind). Paige thought Sylvester was a bit young to be a teacher (he looked barely 20), but his sweetness and anxiety made up for his spraying every surface with disinfectant before the group was allowed to sit.

It was the one Paige recognized as the leader of the group that puzzled her. His name was Walter, and while his looks had caught her eye at first (what? she was a single mom, not a nun), the main thing that piqued her interest was that she couldn't get a read on him. Part of what made her good at her job was getting a sense of who people were. She could figure out if someone needed a friendly face, a quick chat, or if they just wanted a cup of coffee and silence. But Walter… confused her.

She had seen him in here before with a woman she thought was his girlfriend (Jeanine? Janice? She was fairly certain it was Janice). But they didn't act like a couple. Or rather, Walter didn't. Janice would tell a funny story, and he would stare over her shoulder. She would reach out to brush his hand and he'd automatically move away. It was like watching an awkward first date on repeat, and Paige felt for the poor woman making such an effort when it wasn't reciprocated.

They had actually come in for lunch at Nemos earlier today, and she was nearly positive that Walter had broken up with Janice. On his lunch break, no less. Not that it was any of her business, but when she heard Janice say, "Longest three months of my life!", Paige had to turn away so that they wouldn't see her face contort with shock. _Three months?_ The woman was either insane or a saint. Probably both.

But despite the fact that Walter had broken off a three month relationship just a few hours earlier, Paige couldn't see any difference in his usual demeanor at all. She sighed, dropped off the grilled cheese to table six, straightened her shoulders, and put on her best smile as she approached the group.

"Hi! Welcome to Nemos! I'm Paige, I'll be taking care of you. What can I get started for you?"

"I'll have more of your gorgeous smile, and a side of your number, perhaps?" Toby smirked until Happy elbowed him in the ribs.

"The idiot will have a BLT and I'll get the burger. Swiss cheese. Medium rare."

Paige jotted the orders down. "Great. And for you?"

Sylvester jumped nervously. "Oh! Um, can, can I get the tomato bisque? With saltines. With exactly twelve saltines. And the soup needs to be at least 165 degrees so as to prevent bacteria growth. Do you have a thermometer? A sterile thermometer? One that's accurate? Have you calibrated yours in the last-"

"One tomato bisque at 165 degrees with twelve saltines. Got it. Next?"

The group looked to Walter, who was staring off to the side. Paige moved into his line of vision. "And what would you like?"

Startled, he looked up at her in confusion. "What?"

"Can I get you anything? Water? A salad?" She repeated slowly.

He blinked at her. "Most restaurant ice machines had higher levels of bacteria than water samples taken from toilet bowls at the same location, and 70 percent of the complimentary lemon wedges served in water tested positive for microbial growth, such as mold, bacteria, staph, and Candida yeast. Lettuce is always marked up an exorbitant amount and is never washed thoroughly enough to fully eradicate any of the germs living in the creases of the leaf. Not anything with eggs, as you most likely get your eggs from a factory farm which substantially increases the chances of salmonella, nothing covered in sauce as that's how places like this hide meat that is past its prime, so I will have a steak, cooked medium, no sauce, and a can of soda. Also, you have anemia. It turns your fingernails pitted. That's why your polish looks streaky. You need more iron."

By the end of his tirade, Paige was openly gaping. Toby's eyebrows had shot up, Happy was glaring, and Sylvester looked even more nervous than usual.

Silently repeating the mantra of "be determined to have a good day", she resisted the urge to shove her notepad down the dark-haired man's throat, and simply said, "Got it,", and walked away.

She put the order in and checked on Ralph, who should have been working on his homework, but was playing with the condiments again.

Taking a calming breath, she leaned over. "Hey sweetie, I thought we were working on our English homework."

Ralph shifted away and moved the sugar packets around.

"I know it's not your favorite, but if you get it done, I can probably score some ice cream for you, okay? Deal?"

He moved the salt and pepper shakers around, but eventually took the pencil she offered him.

Paige glanced up and saw Happy announce she was going to the bathroom. Toby stood as well.

"Me too."

"The hell does that mean, pervert?"

"It means that the brain is highly susceptible to suggestions, and that it's easy to trigger sympathetic bladder-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

Happy stomped off as Toby trailed behind her. Paige then noticed Walter nudging Sylvester and pointing at Ralph. She followed their gaze and saw that Ralph had abandoned his homework and was fiddling with the creamers again. As Sylvester got up from the table, Paige couldn't take it any more. She stormed over to Walter, jaw clenched.

Trying to keep her voice down to at least minimize the chance of getting fired, she placed her hand on her hip and made sure the teacher was actually looking at her. "Hey! I can handle your destructive catapult experiments, I can handle you insulting my place of work, and I can even handle how insanely rude you were to me earlier, and believe me when I say I have had men grope me more politely than you spoke to me. But do not, I repeat do not come here and mock my son. What the hell kind of teacher makes fun of children?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toby standing with his mouth open in shock before Happy shoved him out of sight. Walter stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. "I-"

"And my polish streaks because Ralph does it. He loves to paint, and don't tell me that he needs help, either. He's challenged. Have some empathy."

His dark eyes met her angry ones, and then he looked over at her son and sighed.

"Challenged, huh?" He rose and stood next to her, jutting his chin at the booth where Sylvester had joined Ralph.

"Look at Sylvester and him. Do you know what they're doing? The matches are the king, the jelly is the queen, the sugar packets are the knights. He's playing chess with a grand master who's about to lose."

Just then Sylvester looked up and shouted, "Walter, you see this? Checkmate in eight moves. This kid is amazing!"

As Paige stared, suddenly seeing the purpose Ralph had behind each motion, she felt like the floor had fallen out from under her.

"And he doesn't like to paint your nails. He does it because he wants to hold your hand, but he can't process physical contact. So help him. Or he will never connect with you. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your son is a genius."

She watched as Sylvester and Ralph set up the pieces again, and saw how intently and quickly her son reacted to whatever strategy Sylvester was using. He was focused, engaged. She had never seen him like this, even as a baby. Knowing that he wasn't challenged, but was actually brilliant, only opened up a whole other part of her life where she still didn't understand him.

"Order up. Table fifteen. _Paige!_ "

Jerking back to reality, she made her way over to the kitchen and asked the other waitress if she could take the food over. Karen looked concerned at how pale she was, but didn't ask any questions as she grabbed the plates. Paige stayed hidden until the group had left (everyone had tipped well this time, with the receipt full of equations on the back adding 'Sorry!' underneath. Paige managed a smile and was glad she had put Sylvester into the 'nice' category already.).

The next day, after dropping Ralph off at school, she watched him walk towards the doors, shifting away from the other kids. (She realized that it was the same way she had seen Walter react with Janice.) She bit her lip, then drove past her work over to the Scorpion School for Gifted Minds. The sign in front of the modern looking building had an abstract design of a scorpion, made of circles and squares.

Getting out, Paige glanced around at the grounds, looking for some sort of information, or brochure, or something. Finding the small box of pamphlets attached to the Scorpion sign, she browsed through one, but wasn't sure if she should go ask for more information, or even where. She heard footsteps and looked up to see Walter coming down the steps of the school. He was rifling through papers, brows puckered in concentration. One of his papers flew out of his hand, and when he reached out to grab it, he did a double take as he saw her.

Suddenly panicking, she dove back into her car and sped off. She barely got to Nemos before her shift started, and tried to put the embarrassment of this morning behind her. Luckily, none of the teachers came in for lunch, so she was at least spared that. Ralph came in after school, and Paige noticed that he looked almost longingly over at the table where the geniuses had sat yesterday.

She started him on his science homework, then got caught up with three demanding tables at once. After the last one finally paid, she gave a long sigh, changed out of her uniform, and came out to see Walter playing chess with Ralph.

Freezing, she watched as Walter took the jelly out of play, slid the salt shaker out of the reach of Ralph's knight, and triumphantly placed his creamer in front of Ralph's matchbook. Then, her world shook as her son gave Walter a half-smile.

"Rematch?" Walter asked, then looked up to see Paige staring at them. He stood hastily and made his way over to her.

"Hello Miss Dineen. I understand that I was a bit... brusque yesterday and-"

"Rude." She interrupted in spite of herself. "You were rude."

He took a moment, then corrected himself. "Yes. I was rude yesterday, and I wanted to apologize for how I handled that social interaction. It was not... optimal. But I have come to understand that often to rectify social missteps, if you will, it is customary to offer recompense in the fashion of a cup of coffee, or, in this specific case, dinner. With you and Ralph."

She narrowed her eyes at him, still irritated about how she couldn't quite read him. "Okay, well, thank you, but I'm wondering why."

"Wondering why?" He repeated in confusion.

"Well, I get the feeling that you don't try to... 'rectify social missteps' often, so I'm wondering what your motive is." She raised an eyebrow in challenge.

The dark-haired genius paused. "I saw you at Scorpion today." He offered almost hesitantly (Paige tried to hide her flush of embarrassment). "And I noticed you took a brochure. And while we did our best to ensure that the information was efficiently expressed, I thought that maybe an interpersonal alternative would be more beneficial."

Paige tilted her head at him, waiting until he summarized, "I... thought you might want to ask questions about the school."

Unsure, she deflected, "I don't know. Ralph gets bored whenever we go out."

The smile that Walter gave her made her stomach twist in ways it hadn't in years. "Trust me, he won't be bored."

…

She was gratified to see that he made visible effort to be civil to their waiter, with small glances at her as he ordered. Once the waiter delivered their drinks, she saw Ralph start to shift in his seat. Walter noticed as well, and pulled out a notebook and a pen. As Paige watched, he wrote out a long equation and pushed it toward Ralph. The boy blinked, then hurriedly began scribbling on the paper.

When Paige looked back at Walter, he gave her that same half-grin and said, "That'll keep him occupied for a while. What did you want to know about Scorpion?"

"What do your friends teach? The ones that come into the diner?"

"Well, Happy teaches robotics and mechanics, Toby teaches psychiatry and psycho-analytics-"

"What now?"

"Um, human behavior. Occasionally he'll do medical seminars, but he prefers studying the way the mind functions. Sylvester is in charge of statistical theory, he's basically a human calculator."

"And you? What do you teach?" She asked, finding herself actually interested.

"Whatever I need to. Coding, programming, software development, security risk and management. Different each year."

She laughed. "How do you keep all that in your head, Einstein?"

Walter furrowed his brows at the reference. "Einstein's IQ was 160. Mine is 197, the fourth highest ever recorded."

Paige's eyebrows shot up as she couldn't help remark, "Bet that's something you mention a lot, huh?"

She hid a smile as he considered it. "I only mention any fact when it is relevant. The need to establish the importance of intelligence is shockingly high in many situations I come across."

"I'm sure it is." Paige murmured as she took a sip of her iced tea. "Look, your school looks... well, amazing, but I looked at the tuition costs, and honestly – I can't afford it."

"I thought that might be a contributing factor to your reaction earlier today, and since it's obvious that while you may be above the set poverty line in the US, your annual salary is much less than the average required to attend Scorpion."

Paige suddenly felt like she was at the diner all over again. "Excuse me?"

"It was a simple deduction based on several points of data. You have no-name sneakers, he has orthotics. Whatever you have goes to Ralph. The inflammation under your eyes from lack of sunlight comes from working two jobs. As for the boy's father, I'd make calculated assumptions in the realm of interpersonal communication issues."

With Ralph fully absorbed in solving whatever equation Walter had given him at the other end of the table, Paige found herself resorting to hissed sarcasm. "Oh, so we split because I have issues communicating. And I thought it was the blonde in Tahoe. Who the hell are you to tell me that I look like I am barely above the poverty line? That hurts my feelings. Do you understand?"

He bit his lip as she watched him process her words. "Yeah. I recognize that. I've been told things like that a lot before."

She gave him an assessing look before deciding that he hadn't meant anything malicious by it. "Not surprising."

He cleared his throat awkwardly, then continued, "Well, I anticipated something to that effect, so I wanted to offer you a job."

Paige froze. "A what?"

"A job as a counselor at Scorpion. We're very good at attending to the students' intellectual needs, but not so much to growing their EQ, which I feel you would be well qualified for." He slid a folder over to her.

She was being to feel her vocabulary was limited to a single word. "What?"

"Uh, IQ is intelligence quotient, EQ is emotional quotient. People with high IQ tend to have low EQ." He shot her a self-deprecating grin. "People like me."

"B-but why me? I'm not a genius."

"No, but you are raising one. That takes, uh, someone smart, brave. You want to know about your son, I can translate him for you. You translate the world for us. It's, um salary plus benefits. Plus, there's an discount, if you will, for the tuition of children of employees."

Paige could only glance back and forth between the papers Walter gave her and her nine-year-old at the opposite end of the table.

Walter spoke, his voice surprisingly gentle. "You're worried about not being able to connect with Ralph. That is a second chance."

She stared at the folder, taking in the requirements of the job, the substantial increase in pay, and couldn't shake the feeling that this was all a dream.

"I-"

"Done!" Ralph chirruped and passed the notepad back to Walter. The man took it with a smile, checked it over, then tousled Ralph's hair. (She noticed that Walter had initiated the contact, and that Ralph didn't shy away as he normally did.)

"Great job!"

Ralph gave another of his rare smiles, then waited impatiently for Walter to write out another problem.

"This time Ralph, try to imagine what real-life scenarios this could be applied to."

Her son nodded, then went back to filling the notepad.

Walter looked at Ralph with a fond grin, the glanced up to see Paige staring at him.

"He… he doesn't talk to anyone but me."

Walter shrugged. "He recognizes one of his own."

After a moment, she asked again, "Why me? I'm sure there are other more qualified people-"

"Not that I've seen." His voice was firm.

She waited, hoping he'd offer more of an explanation.

Her patience paid off, as he sighed, rubbed his face, then said, "My parents, they… they didn't really understand me. I don't blame them, but after a while, they stopped trying. You haven't."

Paige turned toward Ralph, watching him engage with written numbers more than he ever had with kids his age. "I still don't understand him." She commented softly.

"But you try. You haven't given up, and that's… remarkable." She saw the genius struggle to choose his words. "I created Scorpion to help kids like me, like Ralph. Kids that have to ignore any sentence that starts with ' normally'. To make sure that they're not scared of anything that they're capable of. Kids that find it difficult to make friends, and sometimes feel like no one else in the world likes them."

As she watched Walter try to express his reasons, her heart broke for the child he used to be. The boy that he didn't want Ralph to become.

"You just got to make sure that he knows it's not his fault." It was almost a question.

Paige smiled warmly at him, trying to answer the silent query. "I know."

His distressed eyes met her brown ones, and he cleared his throat, slipping back into a professional demeanor. "Anyway, the um, the job is yours, if you want it. I understand if you need to take some time to consider-"

"I'll do it."

Walter's eyes lit up. "Really?"

She hid a smile. "Yes."

"Great! I'll um, I'll see you Monday."

As they left the restaurant, Walter noticed Ralph staring at the stars. Looking up as well, he asked, "Do you ever pause your dreams, Ralph?"

Ralph didn't tighten his grip on Paige's hand, as he usually did whenever people asked him questions. Instead, he let go, and fell into step with Walter, leaving Paige frozen in shock. "Yeah."

"Ever rewind them?"

"Sometimes."

"Yeah, me too."

As she watched them walk together, for all the world like a normal man and child, she could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. She didn't know what this new job would involve, but if it offered Ralph (and if she was being honest, partly for Walter as well) a sense of normality, she'd chase it to the ends of the earth.


	2. First Impressions

The following Monday, Paige and Ralph arrived at the Scorpion School for Gifted Minds a few minutes before school started. Looking in the rear-view mirror, she could see the trepidation on her son's face. Trying to calm her own anxiety, Paige got out and stood by the side until Ralph decided to join her.

When he finally got out of the car, she saw his eyes dart back and forth between the school grounds and the back seat.

Sighing, Paige bent down to talk to him.

"Ralph, we talked about this. Going to school is your job. You need to go." He gave her a look that suggested that he didn't think this was completely necessary.

"I'm still nervous about my new job, but I need to go, too. Be determined to have a great day and you will." She smiled, then glanced around at the other kids heading towards the building.

"And do you know what I see over there? I see that little boy wearing a t-shirt from L.A. Science and Cultural Center. You love that place. I'd call that an ice breaker, right? You're gonna be okay."

Ralph met her eyes uncertainly. "Are you sure?"

She smiled at him, knowing that talking was a good sign. "Mm-hmm. Okay. Let's go."

He slowly took her hand, and they walked up the school steps to the front office.

"Do you think we'll see Walter?" He asked as they went inside.

Trying to hide her surprise at the fact that he was continuing the conversation, Paige replied, "Probably. This is his school too."

"Okay." As they walked up to the front office, she watched him look around, in case Walter was hiding somewhere.

"Hi! I'm Paige Dineen, and this is my son, Ralph. This is his first day."

The secretary nodded, then consulted her computer. "Perfect. We'll test him on a couple different subjects, so we can place him in the appropriate classes. I'll take you over to the testing room."

Ralph glanced at the lady, then back at Paige. Smiling encouragingly, she gestured for him to follow the secretary.

"It'll be okay. Go on."

He hesitated, then walked down the hall.

"I love you." Paige called, then saw Ralph turn and give her a small nod of acknowledgment.

She suddenly peered around and realized she was alone with no idea where to go for her first day. Were they going to test her too? And on what? People skills?

About to pick a random direction to start walking, she heard her name being called down the hall to her right.

"Paige!"

Walter waved to her, dressed in a slate blue shirt with a dark tie and black pants. "I thought you might be up here."

She laughed. "Yeah, I realized after dinner that the instructions on where to go once I got here were a little vague."

He winced. "Sorry about that. I sometimes forget the practical details. Follow me and I'll take you down to Cabe. Uh, Principal Gallo."

"Oh." Even as an adult, she still had a knee-jerk reaction to getting sent to the principal's office. "Does he meet all the new employees?"

"Yeah, he likes to give his own interviews before-"

"Um, interview?" She interrupted urgently. "You said I had the job."

"You do! It's just a formality before he hires you."

Paige rubbed her temples. "Walter, you really should have told me. I didn't bring my resume, or cover letter, or anything!"

He blinked at her. "You're upset."

Sighing, she explained, "Walter, I'm upset because I feel unprepared to interview for a job that I really want. You led me to believe that I didn't have to prepare, and now I find out that's not true. Do you understand why I feel upset?"

Walter bit his lip and drew his chin back. "I do. I apologize. However, there is a strong likelihood that he will hire you."

"But there's a chance he won't."

They reached a door with 'Principal Gallo' printed on it, and all her anxiety came rushing back. She stopped outside the door, and suddenly understood how Ralph felt outside the school.

"Did you want me to get into your computer and print your resume?"

She stared at him. "You can do that?"

He looked offended at her incredulity. "Of course. It would only take-"

"Thank you, but it's okay." She smiled at him. "I'll be fine."

Taking a deep breath, she nodded and said, "Okay, let's go."

She noticed that Walter didn't knock at all before opening the door. "Cabe."

An older man behind a desk looked up, seemingly unsurprised at Walter's brusqueness.

"Walter." He greeted in an even tone, then noticed Paige subconsciously hiding behind the genius' shoulder.

"You must be Miss Dineen." He stood and shook her hand. "Cabe Gallo. Pleasure to meet you. Please have a seat."

As they sat, he commented, "So I heard you're interested in our counselor position."

"Yes, I am. Unfortunately, I don't have my resume with me-"

"That's my fault." Walter piped up, and Principal Gallo turned to him with a look of intense interest.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I did not adequately explain the standard operating procedure for new employees, thus creating the impression that she did not need to bring any documents with her."

Cabe gave Walter an assessing look. "Hmm."

"I can procure them for you, should you need it. It's highly unlikely that she has any sort of advanced security system on her computer, so-"

Paige coughed loudly. "Thank you, Walter. But I can bring them in tomorrow, if you need them, Principal Gallo."

The older man grinned. "Call me Cabe. Only the kids call me Principal Gallo, and usually only when they're in trouble. So tell me why you're interested in being our genius counselor."

She took a calming breath. "Well, I've always loved working with children. I've volunteered at several aftercare programs, and I have great people skills. I-"

"Holy crap, is that the sassy waitress from the diner?"

Paige could feel herself turning red as Toby's voice traveled through the door.

"She has a name, idiot." Apparently Happy was there as well.

"Her name is Paige. Paige Dineen. I glimpsed the shift schedule once at the diner." Along with Sylvester.

"What's she doing here?"

"Seeing as how the only job opening we have is for a counselor, I'd guess that." Happy answered Toby caustically.

"Guys..." Sylvester tried to interject.

"What do we need a counselor for? We've got me!"

"Exactly."

"Guys, taking into consideration the composition of the door and the decibel level of the average human voice, I think-"

"All of you!" Cabe barked, causing Paige to jump. He definitely had some sort of military background that lent a specific authority to his voice. "Get in here now."

The door opened almost sheepishly, and the three teachers who were standing outside filed in.

"Miss Dineen, could you give us a moment please?"

Startled, she nodded and closed the door behind her. Now, she wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but Sylvester's observation about the door and the volume of voices was clearly accurate.

"We didn't do anything." Toby muttered, for all the world sounding like a ten-year-old caught shooting spitballs into girls' hair.

"You all seemed highly interested in Miss Dineen's interview, so I'd like to hear your thoughts."

There was a confused pause.

"You want to hear what we think?" Sylvester repeated dubiously.

"Yes."

"But you never want to hear what we think."

"Doesn't stop you from jabbering my ear off. Now, do you think we should hire her?"

Toby was the first to answer. "Well, first off, the position of counselor is strictly unnecessary, as I am really the only student of the human mind that we need."

"Shut up, Doc. And yes. Hire her."

All heads turned towards Happy.

"Why's that?" Cabe asked.

"She stood up to Walter in one of his moods. Anyone who can do that can handle this job no problem."

"I will have you know that I do not have 'moods'. That would imply a level of EQ that I do not possess."

"Oh please," the psychiatrist interjected. "You have moods. Your low EQ just means that you can't process them in any sort of healthy way, which honestly, could be resolved if you just spent a little time on the couch-"

Cabe interrupted. "So what happened, exactly?"

"Walter had been in one of his moods all day, and he snapped at her in the diner. She kept it professional, but when she thought he was making fun of her kid, she ripped him a new one."

"A new what?" Sylvester asked.

"We'll tell you when you're older." Toby replied. "And Walt basically told her that the water she offered him was as bad as drinking out of a toilet bowl and that she was trying to give him mold from the lemons."

Walter tried to defend himself. "It was not that bad."

Cabe raised an eyebrow, then turned to the large math teacher. "Mr. Dodd?"

Sylvester looked cornered, then offered, "He put it in more scientific terms?"

Walter sighed. "Getting back to the point, I think she can bring something unique, something we've been missing here."

"Look Walt, I know you think she can help, but purely from an analytical point of view, what exactly would be her purpose here?" The behaviorist questioned.

"Oh, take it easy. Sylvester, come on, help me out here."

Sylvester paused, then tried, "She's pretty."

As Cabe watched with an unreadable expression, Walter addressed the other teachers. "Do I need to remind you guys that when I found Happy, she was paying people to be her stand-in at fabrication competitions because she can't stand to be judged?" The mechanical prodigy shot him a glare.

He turned to Toby, "When I first met you, you were about to get beaten by an Atlantic City pit boss, and Sylvester, do we even need to discuss the state that you were in?"

"It wasn't pleasant." The math teacher admitted.

"I saw something in you guys. I see something in her. She'll thrive at this job. You just, you have to trust me."

Hiding what might have been a smile, the principal coughed and said, "Alright, I've heard your thoughts. Don't you all have classes to prep for?"

"You're the one who called us in here." Happy pointed out.

"And now I'm saying you can go. Unless you want to help with paperwork..."

"Nope. I'm gone." Toby shot out of his chair with impressive speed and headed out the door. The other teachers, save Walter, followed him.

"You too, Walter. I'd like to speak with Miss Dineen alone for a moment."

Clearly reluctant, Walter rose and tried to give Paige his attempt at an encouraging smile before he let her in the office and closed the door.

Sitting, Paige wasn't quite sure what the older man was thinking as he looked at her over steepled fingers.

"So, um, I was a waitress for a while, as you might have gathered. And I actually think that'd help me here, because I'm used to all sorts of people and attitudes, and I just want you to know that I will work really hard and I'm a fast learner and-"

"You've got the job."

Paige stopped, unsure. "Really?"

Cabe nodded. "Yes. I think you'll do really well here."

"Oh. Um. Thank you."

The older man smiled. "You're wondering why."

"A little bit, yes."

"For a couple reasons. First, Happy is right. If you can handle Walter in one of his moods, you can handle this job just fine. Second, Happy likes you, and Happy doesn't like anyone. Third, Walter recommended you, and he hasn't done that since he found those three.

"Lastly, you've got a kid here. A pretty special one, if my intel is right. And if you're half the parent you seem to be, you will do whatever it takes to give him the best life you can."

She stared at him, then grinned. "Spoken like a dad. How many do you have?"

A flash of pain made its way across Cabe's face. "... I had one. We lost her a long time ago."

Paige's heart swelled with sympathy. She couldn't even imagine what losing Ralph would be like.

"I'm so sorry for your loss."

He nodded in thanks.

"Not to pry, but is that why..."

"I'm part of Scorpion?" Cabe finished for her, then gave a soft smile. "One of reasons. I also knew Walter as a kid, and I think a place like this would have... helped him back then, I suppose."

"Really? What was he like?" Paige leaned him.

The principal laughed. "I first met him when he was 11, after he got arrested for hacking into NASA. Apparently he wanted shuttle blueprints to decorate his room. We worked together for a while but... we had a falling out. When I heard he was looking to start this thing, I retired from Homeland and offered to help. Took some convincing, but he eventually gave me a chance."

"Well, I'm sure he really appreciates having you around." Paige told him warmly.

Cabe smiled softly. "You'll do quite well here, Miss Dineen. Glad to have you onboard. Walter!" He bellowed the last word and Walter immediately opened the door. Paige realized that he must have been waiting outside and probably listening in to their conversation (did every teacher here have that bad habit?).

"Why don't you show Miss Dineen to her office?" Walter nodded, then waited for Paige to collect her things.

She paused in the doorway. "Thank you, Cabe."

The older man's eyes crinkled up. "You're very welcome, Paige."

As Walter guided her down the hall, he commented in a smug tone, "I told you he'd hire you."

"Yes you did, but you could have just said that to make me feel better."

The dark-haired teacher furrowed his brows. "I only state facts. And the facts were that there was a high statistical likelihood of Cabe hiring you."

Paige laughed. "Well, I'm glad you believe in me."

Walter caught her smile, then looked strangely flustered.

"Well, uh, this is your office." He gestured to a medium-sized room with a computer and some files already stacked on the desk. "I know it's not much, but..."

"It's perfect. Where do you work?"

"Oh, um, my - my office is right there." He pointed to the door across the hall.

"Look at that! We're neighbors!" Paige exclaimed.

Walter suddenly looked very nervous. "It was the most efficient room to place you in. I took in estimated traffic and flow as well as the optimal placement for working air conditioning and-"

Paige interrupted him. "Thank you. It's great."

"Oh good. Let me show you the Garage next."

"Garage?" Paige questioned as she followed him out a side door.

"Yes. It's where we like to spend our free time when we're not teaching."

Paige examined the large space. "Wow. This is huge."

There were several desks, a computer station with multiple mounted screens, a whole section filled with metal scraps and old car parts, as well as a sign that proudly proclaimed 'Scorpion Explosives' in neon colors. (Paige hoped that didn't indicate any current activities.)

Happy poked her head around a corner. "Yeah, it used to be for Autoshop classes, but then we added an annex with better equipment, so it's ours now."

"Isn't there a, I don't know, teacher's lounge somewhere?" Paige asked.

Toby looked up from the two books he was reading. "We prefer to think of ourselves as the elite, establishing dominance from afar."

"We needed a place where Happy could work on her projects, and a lab for me and Sylvester." Walter explained.

"Aren't there labs in the actual school?"

Sylvester regarded her with something akin to horror. "With all the kids doing experiments in there? Do you know how many germs there are in school laboratories? Plus, no matter how you label things, people always move them! There is no order!"

"Plus the other teachers are morons who don't understand why I need my own anvil. And that they shouldn't talk to me when I'm working on something." Happy added, then flipped down her welding mask and started up her blowtorch.

Paige raised her eyebrows. "O-kay. What's upstairs?"

"My personal workspace. Also my room." Walter answered.

She stared. "You... live and work here?"

"It was the most efficient solution."

Sylvester piped up, "I live just on the other side of the campus. The commute is very pleasant."

"Do you all live here?"

"Nope." Happy answered around sparks from her project. "I got my own place."

"Same." Toby chimed in with a smirk. After a wrench sailed past his desk, he amended, "I mean, I also have my own place. It is not the same as Happy's place." He looked down and murmured, "Yet."

Walter threw his arms out to encompass the whole space. "Welcome to Team Scorpion!"

As he beamed at her expectantly, Paige was suddenly aware of the others glancing at her out of the corner of their eyes. Taking in how comfortable they all seemed here (even Sylvester), she could tell that this place was much more than a school to these people. They clearly saw it as a second home (maybe even a first), and she knew that her reaction here was very important.

She took a moment, then spun around and looked back at Walter.

Smiling widely, she responded, "Glad to be a part of it."

The other members of Scorpion went back to their projects with small signs of approval, and Walter gave her another one of those half-grins. And as she watched them, she realized how true it was. She was glad she was part of this school. This team.

This family.


	3. Families

Paige's first week was... interesting, to say the least.

She scheduled time with each of the students attending Scorpion, just to see them and let them meet her. She could see Ralph in a lot of them, how they avoided eye contact, didn't speak much, but she could also tell that they were listening when she said they could talk to her any time, or just come in to her office if they needed a break.

Some of them acted just like normal kids, chatting away and switching from one topic to the next with lightning speed, but unlike normal kids, some switched from Cantonese to German, or from the theory of superconductivity to explaining plate tectonics.

A few of them were a little more... memorable.

"Your position here is completely superfluous." The small blonde girl named Saffron told her with absolute certainty.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"You're a guidance counselor. By definition, your job is to offer academic and vocational advice. I do not need any academic or vocational advice. My plan is to get my Ph.D by the time I get my driver's license and to win the Abel Prize." When Paige blinked in surprise, Saffron explained condescendingly, "That's like the Nobel Peace Prize, but for mathematicians."

"I see," was the only thing Paige could say after that little paragraph. It's like she had met a tiny blonde Walter. How on earth was this girl seven years old?

"So, like I said, your role here is unnecessary."

Taking a breath, Paige spoke, "Well, I'm not just here to help you figure out what you want to do, I'm here in case you need to talk to someone."

Saffron narrowed her eyes. "Talk about what?"

Paige shrugged. "Anything you want to." She glanced at the folder she had on her desk. "I see that your birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday! Are you going to have a party?"

The girl suddenly glared at the floor. "Birthday parties are illogical. They started as a pagan superstition to scare off evil spirits with noise and well-wishes. It's a ridiculous tradition."

Pausing a moment, Paige tried, "That may be true, but it's also a time to celebrate with your friends, and you get presents. That's always fun." She offered a smile, but Saffron didn't look up.

"They're stupid and unnecessary." She muttered, then spoke more clearly. "Can I go now?"

Realizing she probably wasn't going to get any farther, Paige nodded. "Sure. Just remember that I'm here if you ever want to talk about something."

Saffron treated her to an eyeroll as she left. Paige checked her schedule and saw that Saffron was her last student for the day. Rubbing her face with exhaustion, Paige made her way over to the Garage and sunk into the couch. Letting out a deep sigh, she tried to roll out the knots in her neck and enjoy the moment of silence.

The silence was suddenly interrupted by the door slamming open.

"He was being an ass!" Happy shouted as Sylvester scrambled to shut the door behind the group so her voice wouldn't echo down the hall.

"I don't care!" Cabe bellowed back. "You apologize or you are suspended!"

"Suspension is for children!"

"And teachers who act like children!"

Paige spared a sigh for her lost moment of peace, then whispered to Walter, "What happened?"

"One of the other teachers insulted her, so she attempted to assault him. Cabe was displeased."

"He called me 'Sugar', so I hit him in the mouth." Happy clarified, ignoring Cabe's glare of disapproval.

Toby interrupted cheerily. "I stopped her before she could do any permanent damage."

Cabe took a moment to stare at Toby, then pointed at the mechanics teacher. "You are lucky Mr. Labeaux doesn't want to press charges, but it's conditional on you giving him an apology. So, say you're sorry, or you are on suspension." He marched out, slamming the door behind him.

Happy stormed off to her workspace and immediately began hammering away on her anvil. Sylvester reacted to the tension in the room by nervously muttering to himself as he rearranged pencils and clothespins in a jar, and Toby coped by putting on his oversized headphones and blasting rock music.

Walter ran his hands through his hair and went over to his desk to organize papers.

"Hey," Paige followed him. "What can I do to help?"

He looked up and simply replied, "Find a way to fix this."

She started to grin, then realized he was actually serious.

"What, right now?"

Nodding, Walter went back to his papers and left Paige to cautiously make her way over to Happy's area.

"Hey, Happy..."

"I appreciate what you're doing," Happy told her in between loud hammer strikes, "but I just need to settle down first." She paused, then looked up. "Check in with me Saturday."

Paige tried to hide her wide-eyed reaction as Happy marched to the other end of the workspace.

Toby shouted across the Garage, "You still don't know us that well. Happy suffers from hostility and anger dissonance syndrome." The engineer shot him a death glare.

"Sylvester has anxiety, OCD, and more phobias than you shake a stick at." The psychiatrist gestured toward their leader. "Walter is textbook intellectual megalomania and anti-obedience syndrome. That's always fun to see play out with Cabe." Walter also gave Toby an annoyed glance, which he ignored.

"Oh, me? I am a narcissist with a slight dusting of addiction tendencies. So, welcome aboard!" He turned up the music so that it echoed throughout the space and sang along. "Here I am, Rock you like a hurricane! Yeah! The Scorpions! It's our theme song!"

Making her way back over to Walter, she asked, "Is this how Ralph feels, being boxed out by other kids?"

He looked at her sympathetically, "You just need a little more time to fit in. You'll be fine. And so will Ralph."

…

Paige brought bagels the next morning from her favorite bakery to try and lift the general mood of the Garage.

"I brought bagels from Kovelsky's on the corner." She called, hoping to lure the geniuses out into the open.

Walter emerged first. "You're not a waitress anymore, Paige." He commented as he snagged an everything bagel out of the bag.

Stifling a sigh, Paige was about to explain to him how that comment could be very easily taken as snide when Cabe came through the door.

"So, you decide to apologize yet?"

Happy didn't look up from her smelting project. "Nope."

"So you're okay with suspension then?"

"Nope."

Paige could see Cabe grinding his teeth.

"She just needs a little time to calm down." She offered quietly.

"She's had a day." The principal pointed out.

"Technically, no she hasn't." Walter interjected, earning him a scowl from Cabe and an exasperated look from Paige.

"A day is defined as 24 hours and it's only been..." Walter checked his watch. "16 hours, 51 minutes and 37 seconds."

Paige was seriously considering kicking Walter in the shin when Cabe gave him a long stare, then said, "Fine. She has a few more hours. Make the most of them."

As the older man left, Paige turned to see Walter smirk a little.

"This is not a win, Walter."

He clearly didn't understand why she was mad. "Happy didn't do anything wrong."

"This isn't just about right and wrong - it's about respect and listening. Cabe is responsible for the school and all the teachers here. Disrespecting him, especially in front of other people, isn't going to help you any."

The dark-haired man rolled his eyes. "Cabe keeps forgetting he's not in the military anymore. We're geniuses, not soldiers."

"But you still need to lis-"

The bell rang and Walter raced over to his desk. "Well, I've got to run, but we can continue this conversation later." Gathering several folders, he tried to beat a quick retreat into the school hallway.

Paige put her hand against his chest to stop him. "Just... think about what could happen. About why Cabe thinks this is important."

He gave her a disbelieving look, then said, "Fine," and shrugged out of her grip and through the door.

Sighing, Paige started toward Happy.

"Still not Saturday." The smaller women remarked as she started up her blowtorch. "Still not settled."

"O-kay." Paige took that as a sign to back away slowly. She then realized she had a student coming in to her office in ten minutes. Shelving the topic for later, Paige spent the next few hours meeting students and trying not to count down the time until Happy's 24 hours were up.

She came in to the Garage near the end of the day, looking for Walter. She found him sitting in a corner with his laptop, a frustrated scowl on his face.

Smiling slightly, Paige crossed her arms as she approached him. "You have the same look that Ralph has when he can't figure something out."

Walter closed his laptop. "I, uh, just looked up the legal ramifications of assault and... it does not bode well for the school. And given Happy's history, the odds of her apologizing are extremely low, which means the other teacher will likely press charges." He rubbed his face and exhaled loudly.

"The school hasn't been that firmly established, and we need this. Mentally enabled don't find a home this easily." Looking around almost affectionately, Walter continued, "It's safe here, you know?"

"... I heard you guys talking about me during the interview." Paige remarked, watching his reaction shift to startled and possibly embarrassed.

"Oh, they – they didn't mean anything by it."

"I don't think you guys say things you don't mean." Paige raised an eyebrow and tried to make sure he was paying attention to what she said next. "But I quit a job to be here. I have a kid and bills and no other options. Now, I heard you tell them that you believe in me." His eyes flicked to meet hers. "Well, I believe in you, too, but you guys don't listen. You think you're always right because you are almost always right, but you have to think about what you're saying and doing and how it affects other people."

She heard something metal clang in the back, and hoped Happy was listening, not just hiding.

"This place is bigger than just you and your team now. It includes kids like Ralph and teachers and Cabe, so you can't think in terms of 'us vs them' anymore." She sighed, then said, "We have to protect each other. All of us."

Before Walter could respond, the door banged open to reveal Cabe, followed by a confused looking Sylvester and Toby.

"Still not apolo-" Happy started to call from the back.

"A kid is missing." Cabe interrupted, causing all the adults to pay instant attention.

"What? Who?" Sylvester asked in concern.

"Saffron Emerson."

Paige froze. "I... I just talked to her yesterday." A memory flashed in her mind. "Oh my God. It's her birthday today." She leaned heavily on the desk.

"Her mother was supposed to pick her up early today, but she's not on campus. Last anyone saw of her was after lunch. She asked to go to the nurse, but never arrived."

"What do you want from us?" Toby asked.

Cabe studied them all for a moment. "Find her. You're the smartest people I know. Get her back safe."

After a minute to absorb that, Paige watched all eyes look to Walter.

Walter swallowed, then pointed to the folder on Cabe's hand. "Toby."

"On it." The behaviorist grabbed the file and flipped through it. "Saffron Emerson, age eight today, only child, started here last year, proficiency in mathematics and physics, IQ of 156."

Sylvester whistled, then added, "On average, 48% of reported missing children are runaways. Only 12% are abducted."

"Well, let's start with that. Cabe, you get the other teachers to search the campus, just in case, and then we'll head to her house."

After a tense car ride, the group arrived at a quiet cul-de-sac and were met by Saffron's frantic parents.

"The police say she's not missing until it's been 48 hours." Her dad told them. "And we've looked everywhere we can think of."

"Can we see her room? She may have left some trace of where she was going." Cabe asked, then the group followed the parents into a room painted light blue, decorated with hummingbird and butterfly stickers on one wall, and a whiteboard filled with equations on the other.

As the geniuses investigated the board, Paige felt drawn toward the small white desk in the corner. There was an obviously homemade card with childish handwriting inside, wishing Saffron a happy birthday and wondering what kind of dinosaur was her favorite, his was a "tero-dak-til" because they could fly. It was carefully signed 'Marcus' with a small drawing of a flying creature with balloons.

Paige furrowed her brows. "Did Saffron have many friends at her old school?"

Mrs. Emerson shook her head. "Not that she talked about. She seemed so lonely there, and she kept saying that there was nothing there to hold her interest except learning about dinosaurs. We asked if she wanted a birthday party, but she said that they were completely illogical and she didn't want to invite anyone."

Suddenly realizing where Saffron might be, Paige turned to the other teachers.

"Guys, I think I know where-"

"These are definitely traffic patterns. Look at the calculation of the light cycles."

"Hey,"

"But what's with this section? All speeds are 10 miles per hours or lower, with some stopping altogether, but others just pause. It doesn't make any sense. A loading zone maybe?"

"Hey, I am talking!" Paige cut in, which caused Toby to turn away and shoot her a patronizing look.

"We're trying to figure something out, okay?"

"Don't interrupt me, Toby!" Paige commanded, earning her the attention of the rest of the group. "I know where she is. She's back at her old school."

Walter frowned at her. "There is no logical reason for her to return there. None of us liked public school."

Paige met his eyes. "Sometimes, life is about more than logic, Walter. Just trust me. That's where she is."

Before he could argue, Toby's eyes widened. "She may be right." He rushed back to the whiteboard. "See here? This is a pick-up area at a school, not a loading zone."

Sylvester pulled up the map of Saffron's old school on his tablet. "Pioneer Elementary. Right here. The schematics match exactly."

"She was planning the safest way to walk there." Happy said, pointing at the lower equations and drawings.

"Alright, let's go!" Cabe shouted as Sylvester told the Emersons where they were going.

As everyone headed out to the cars, Walter paused near Paige and commented softly, "Remember when I said you'd thrive?"

She looked at him questioningly, then saw a grin spread over his face. "Feels good being right again."

As he walked out the room, Paige could barely contain a smile of her own.

They sped to the school, which hadn't quite let out yet. Walter sent Cabe and Saffron's parents to go talk to the front office, and Paige peered around the playground full of running children.

"Happy," she asked, "If you wanted a spot where you could watch the other kids but they couldn't see you, where would you go?"

Toby raised an eyebrow. "Are we looking for an eight year old or a sniper?"

Happy ignored him, studied the area, then pointed toward a large willow tree. "There. That's the best place."

"Okay. You, Toby and Sylvester go around the school just in case. Walter, come with me." Paige gave out assignments, then walked in the direction of the tree with the hanging branches.

As they approached, Paige could see a small someone sitting on the ground, chin resting on her knees. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Paige drew closer slowly, then sat down next to Saffron. They watched the playing children in silence for a few minutes, while Walter stood at the edge of branches awkwardly.

"So, is that Marcus?" Paige finally spoke, motioning to a dark-skinned boy with curly hair climbing across the monkey bars.

Saffron turned to regard Paige in suspicious surprise, then nodded slowly.

"He like dinosaurs a lot, huh?"

"Yeah. He would always ask me what all their names meant. They were all basic Greek combinations, so it wasn't hard, but he would look so impressed whenever..." Saffron paused, then glanced to the playground and fell silent.

"So, everyone is pretty worried about you. Next time you want to go somewhere, you should really ask an adult."

The little girl's expression soured. "It was entirely unnecessary. I can take care of myself. I don't need help."

Paige gave Walter a brief eyebrow raise before she turned back to Saffron. "Everyone needs help. No matter what your IQ is. And when people worry about you, it's because they care about you and want you to be safe. It means they love you."

When Saffron didn't answer, Paige continued, "You know why I think you didn't want a birthday party?" The blonde girl glanced at her from the corner of her eye. "I think you were afraid no one would come. But then you got a card from Marcus, and realized that you wanted to be with your friend for your birthday."

Saffron scowled. "It's illogical. Colleagues should be equal in intelligence and interests. He has an unremarkable IQ, standard for most seven year olds, and I'm deciding what the topic of my Ph.D thesis is. I started talking when I was one, and he still can't spell 'pterodactyl'!" Frustrated, she threw her hands up in the air.

Biting back a smile, Paige remarked, "Well, that may be true of colleagues, but it doesn't have to be true of friends."

The eight year old (and the adult behind her) looked at her sharply.

"Being friends isn't about being as smart as them, or liking all the same things. It's about enjoying their company, and listening to each other."

When Saffron still didn't look convinced, Paige gestured to Walter. "Mr. O'Brien and I are friends, and my IQ isn't nearly as high as his. And even though sometimes he may not be learning anything new when we talk, he still listens, which makes him a good friend."

The girl narrowed her eyes, then glanced up at Walter. "Is she right?"

Startled, the genius blinked, then answered slowly. "She is correct in that colleagues and friends have different social purposes, and people can be friends, despite differing interests. But she is wrong on one account."

He glanced at Paige briefly, then knelt down so he was eye-level with Saffron. "I do learn things when we talk. I learn about successful social interactions, and how to concisely summarize the projects I'm working on. She often has valuable insights on topics I have not mastered, and... I also enjoy her company."

While Saffron took this into consideration, Paige stared at Walter in surprise, then smiled softly at him.

Turning, Paige suggested, "Why don't you go thank Marcus for the birthday card he made, and maybe ask if he wants to be pen pals?"

The blonde gave Paige a look. "Pen pals?" She repeated sardonically.

Walter added, "Or email, if that's more efficient."

Nodding in satisfaction, Saffron stood and made her way over to the playground, with some encouragement from Paige.

"Thanks for agreeing with me." She told Walter once Saffron was out of earshot. "I know that you're probably super bored whenever I talk to you about stuff." She turned with a self-deprecating smile and saw Walter's brow furrowed deeply.

"I'm never bored around you." He spoke with such sincerity that Paige had to wonder if his EQ was really as low as he said.

"Granted, some of the subjects you bring up are incredibly mundane and sometimes completely incorrect."

Nevermind.

"But still, I... learn things from our interactions that are valuable." He glanced at her hesitantly. "You... we couldn't have done this without you today."

She stared at him for a moment, unsure what to do about the feeling in her chest.

"Saffron!" Mr. Emerson's voice rang out across the playground, and the adults turned to see Saffron say goodbye to Marcus and make her way over to her parents.

Her mother grabbed her in a hug. "Oh my goodness, are you okay? Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going? We were so worried!"

"I'm fine. I mapped out the safest and most efficient route, taking into account the regular traffic patterns." Saffron paused, then glanced in Paige's direction. "But... I understand that your concern is an outward sign that you care about my well-being."

"Also, as a possible alternative to a birthday party, I would consider visiting the Nature and History Museum with some of my... friends."

Mrs. Emerson looked up at Paige in shock, then hugged Saffron tighter.

"That sounds great, sweetie."

Paige smiled as the family embraced, then turned to see a heartbreaking expression cross Cabe's face.

Making her way over, she touched his shoulder. "Hey, Ralph and I were gonna barbecue some burgers up on the roof tonight. It would really help if you could keep an eye on him while I work the grill."

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded in silent thanks.

…

As Paige started the grill and brought up Ralph's new telescope to assemble later that the evening, she was gratified to see Cabe show up with a variety of condiments for the burgers and a chess set to play with Ralph. After a while, Happy came up and walked toward Cabe.

"I apologized," she started without preamble. "But if he ever touches me, I'm breaking every bone in his hand."

Cabe pursed his lips, then agreed, "Sure. Seems fair."

Happy inclined her head, then gruffly told Paige to go and set up the telescope already, since she was better at burgers anyhow. Taking it as the invitation it was, Paige organized the different pieces into place, then looked up as she heard Ralph say, "Hi Walter."

Walter gave him a small grin, then returned the greeting. "Ralph."

Clicking the last section into place, Paige called, "There, I think I'm done, Ralph. Come check this out." Ralph looked through the eyepiece as she said, "See all the stars? There's millions of them up there."

As she adjusted the telescope, she could hear Walter talking to Cabe about something over by the table.

"It can be a good thing, too."

"I know."

Walter walked over, hands in his pockets, met her gaze with a smile, then surreptitiously handed her a scrap of paper.

After looking at the note, Paige laughed a little and glanced at Walter fondly before reading it aloud.

"Hey, Ralph? If you look at the curvature of the moon's surface, Orion's belt makes a perfect horizontal tangent line. Isn't that cool?"

"It is cool!" Ralph responded, and she felt a burst of joy hearing him talk to her, especially in front of other people. It was another reminder of how these teachers were so different than anyone she, or Ralph, had ever met. And how happy she was that they had found them.

Unsure how to communicate this, she settled with a whispered "Thank you."

She saw Walter try and hide a smile before softly replying, "No problem." as he too stared up at the millions of stars above their little family.


	4. Risks

**Chapter 4**

Paige's life soon settled into a routine – or as much of a routine as one could have while working at a school for children who defined 'fun' as naming every country in the world or discussing the newest discoveries about supernovas.

She and Ralph usually came in an hour before school started (with bagels on Mondays) so Ralph could spend time with the teachers doing special projects. He fixed equipment with Allen wrenches that Happy had given him, and helped Walter and Sylvester with experiments while Toby amazed him with card tricks. By the time his first class started, he had smiled and spoken more in an hour than he had in a whole day a year ago.

Once Ralph was in class, Paige would head to her office to answer emails and catch up on work. After reviewing files and establishing a schedule to keep up with the students on a regular basis, Paige found herself with a little free time during the day, and she decided to redeem it by watching the Scorpion teachers at work.

There were of course normal teachers who taught the standard curriculum to children gifted in other areas. Ralph was taking the same English, Spanish, and art classes as he would at any other school, but Paige was proud to find out that he scored well enough to be placed in advanced versions of math, science, and coding. Since Scorpion focused on aptitude instead of age, and most of their students transitioned to college by the time they were 15, the age range of every class varied between six and 14 years old.

Toby, to no one's surprise, was one of the most popular teachers. He was joking and sarcastic during his lectures, which the kids loved, but still covered college level topics quickly and clearly (or at least Paige assumed so) and kept an impressive amount of control in his class.

"Alright, who can tell me about the dilemma of – Tanishq!"

A small boy with dark hair immediately hid his phone.

"That's right wunderkinds, I've got eyes in the back of my head." Toby raised his eyebrows, then flicked his brim. "Why do you think I wear a hat all the time, eh?"

Paige smiled as the class giggled at Toby's mock-serious expression.

"Stick with me long enough and I'll teach you how to grow them." Toby nodded, then gestured to the boy in the back. "Tanishq, please explain to the class the dilemma of reductionism, determinism, and therapeutic liberation."

She had to wander a little bit before she found Happy in an engineering class, explaining the circuitry involved in one of her robotics projects. While Happy seemed just as tough as she did in the garage, Paige noticed that her stance and tone gentled considerably when answering questions or working one-on-one with students. The quieter kids in the class clearly gravitated towards her, despite her gruff demeanor, and Happy looked on them with not-so-hidden fondness.

Sylvester, poor thing, acted just as nervous in the classroom as he did anywhere else, but he had a much smaller class size (Paige was certain that was a deliberate choice, but whose, she's couldn't tell). The students he had took copious notes and seemed fascinated in what he had to say, and once Sylvester got going on a subject, Paige could feel the passion he had override his anxiety. As he discussed the statistical theory of passive location systems (she recognized the word 'Doppler', but that was about it), Paige had to bite back a grin when she saw that Sylvester's desk set-up looked identical to the one in the Garage, and that his chalk was systematically organized by color and length.

She knew Ralph had a class with Walter later in the day, so she timed her visit a few minutes before it let out. As she leaned against the door, trying not to distract the kids, Walter immediately looked over. Paige smiled at him, which he slowly returned, then addressed the class.

"As a practical application of what we've been learning, each of you will decide between creating a network firewall that can withstand various attacks, or attempting to break through a firewall with any method you chose. Now remember," Walter paused for dramatic effect, then pointed in warning, "this is for this class only. Do not go around breaking through any one else's firewalls. Like mine." The class laughed as he winked, then packed up as the bell rang.

Ralph ran toward her as rest of the kids filed past, and she hugged him.

"Hey sweetie! How was class?"

"It was great! I learned about security risk management and the different types of firewalls today."

Trying to hide her surprise and joy at the excitement in his voice, Paige replied, "I'm so glad! That sounds very fun."

"It is!"

"Oh good." The bell rang again, and Paige gave Ralph an extra squeeze. "I'll talk to you later, okay? Don't be late for your next class."

"Okay. Bye." He smiled at her and headed out into the hallway as she looked after him lovingly.

As Walter came up next to her, she commented, "I've never seen him happier."

"He's in the right place." Walter replied, then glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You know, eventually, uh, everyone fits in."

She gave him a slow, happy grin, then saw Cabe coming around the corner.

"There you are. Wanted to check in before I left." He said as he readjusted his bag strap.

"Have a great trip!" Paige told him, which Cabe responded to with a scowl.

"I don't like leaving you geniuses alone for too long."

"You will gone for less than a week at a valuable education leadership conference." Walter spoke in an exasperated tone. "I think you forget that I ran my own business before this."

"I have an investment here, and I don't want it compromised."

"I have had an investment in this team for years, and we're ready to be on our own, whether you think so or not. Besides, not all of us are geniuses. Paige isn't."

"That's the only reason I'm going. And how well was Scorpion doing before I came along?"

"Better than running down dead ends at Home-"

"What he means to say is have a safe trip, and we've got everything under control." Paige interrupted before things escalated. "Don't worry, Cabe. We'll hold down the fort." She gave him an encouraging expression as his frown deepened, then he sighed and nodded.

"Alright. Try not to burn the place down while I'm gone."

"The fuel and accelerant needed to incinerate the school would-"

Paige grabbed Walter's arm, which seemed to stop his detailed explanation. "We'll try. Drive safe!"

She waved as the principal left, then used her grip on Water's arm and his temporary speechlessness to hustle him into the Garage.

"Are you okay?"

The dark-haired genius blinked. "I'm fine."

"Then what the hell was that?"

Walter had the gall to look confused. "What?"

"That! With Cabe! It's a big deal for him to leave you guys on your own and you were incredibly rude to him!"

"He doesn't appreciate what we can do without him." Walter said as he made his way over to the stairs.

"This is not about what you can do without him, it's about being respectful and recognizing that he cares about all of you and the school."

"Cabe is constantly underestimating us. If he's not involved, he doesn't think it's valuable. We don't need a babysitter. We've got so much more to offer than he thinks we do." Walter disappeared up into his loft.

"Walter!" Paige called, but he didn't answer. A moment later, the door opened with Happy, Sylvester, and Toby, who looked like he was doing some sort of dance.

"Alright! Boarding passes, check. Bags packed, check. Moola to spend at the tables, check!"

Walking over to Toby's desk, Paige couldn't help but grin at his exuberance. "Big plans for the weekend?"

"Oh yes. We are going on the sacred trek of tech nerds to the one, the only, Defcon!" Toby held up his arms in mockery of a ring announcer.

"Is that at all like Comic Con?"

"Better. It's a hacking conference, with fun additions like lockpicking contests and 'Spot the Fed' games. By the way, I must say, I am a champion spotter of federal agents."

Still unsure what was happening, Paige settled for, "O-kay."

Happy chimed in from her workspace, "There's a panel about disrupting robotic homeostasis and artificial intelligent systems with electromagnetic pulses that is going to make my whole weekend."

"I could make your whole weeken- ow!" Toby mumbled under his breath until a lug nut flew out and hit him in the shoulder.

"One of the tracks includes a lecture about hacking your brain with video games." Sylvester added as he sealed hand soap in a plastic bag. "Can you imagine the possibilities?"

"Probably not." Paige answered.

"Best of all, it's in Vegas, baby! I can just hear the sound of money falling into my hands, given to me by people whose tells are so obvious I could read them blindfolded!"

"Toby!" Walter's voice interrupted the behaviorist's rejoicing. "I need you to grade and comment on those tests from last week."

"Sure, sure. I'll get them done next week."

"I need them today." Walter said as he descended the stairs, adjusting his messenger bag.

Toby paused as Sylvester and Happy peered around to look at Walter.

"I'm sorry, for a second that sounded like you were saying I can't go to Vegas."

Walter gave a tight smile. "I'm telling you I need you here."

Trying to stifle a sigh, Paige stepped forward. "Guys, maybe we can talk this out upstairs?"

"Cabe is gone, so I am the boss, and I don't want anything to possibly damage the school's reputation."

"Oh, oh, me being involved damages the school's reputation?"

"Your gambling is a liability. You will become distracted in Vegas, and we need to put the school's interests first."

Paige could feel the tension in the room rising. "Walter, come on. You waited till the last minute to tell him about this?"

"Fine. When he calls because he's in jail and out of money, you can bail him out."

Toby opened his mouth to say something Paige was sure was not complimentary when a new voice came from the door.

"Well, well, well. The gang's all here!" Everyone slowly turned to see a scraggly-looking man with glasses leaning against the door with crossed arms and a sickly smile. "And getting along so splendidly, I see."

"Mark." Walter greeted in a neutral tone.

"What is he doing here?" Happy grit out between clenched teeth.

"Didn't Walter tell you?" Mark stood and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture. "He invited me!"

All heads turned to stare at Walter.

"Are you insane?" Happy hissed.

"No, but Collins is." Toby narrowed his eyes.

"I didn't invite him here today, just... he said he had some things that could help the school and I think we should keep an open mind."

"Fear not, my children! I come bearing gifts!" Paige watched the others instinctively back away as Mark walked forward.

"The Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics – a prize worth three million dollars. A nice little nest egg for your," He glanced around at the space with a raised eyebrow, "...school. And, I happen to know that they're looking especially for projects in harmonic analysis." He drew closer to Walter. "With my signals processing expertise and the work we did with Fourier transforms, we are nearly guaranteed the prize. All we need is a few more days to finish our research." His eyes were wide and almost wild, and Paige did not like the interested look slowly appearing on Walter's face.

Paige stepped forward. "Walter? A moment?"

She had to practically drag him over to where the other teachers had huddled near Happy's workspace.

"Someone want to explain?" She asked, looking at the group.

Walter twitched slightly. "Mark was a member of the team. It didn't work out."

"With Collins, 'didn't work out' is an understatement." Sylvester clarified nervously.

"If you didn't agree with him, he'd argue with you until you did, and he knew his mind games." Toby added, crossing his arms and keeping an eye on their visitor.

"Like, if you played chess with him, he'd make you doubt your every move. And then – blammo - checkmate."

Paige stared at Sylvester in disbelief. "Against you?"

He nodded emphatically.

"The worst of it was how he affected Walter." Paige turned at the anger in Happy's voice. "He'd get in his head, erase his good judgment and forget we existed." She added with an accusatory stare.

"Guys." Walter had clearly had enough. "He wants to help us. The school could use the money, and just imagine what we could do with three million dollars! It could change everything, help us finally get the recognition we deserve."

Paige felt like he wasn't just talking about the school anymore, and was about to say something when Sylvester's phone beeped urgently.

He shut it off, then looked around. "We should leave now if we want to make our flight." He told the others in a subdued tone.

Everyone glanced at Walter, who looked back at Collins. "You guys go ahead." He said finally. "I'll catch a later flight."

"Walter," Happy warned in a tense voice. "I do not like him being here."

Toby agreed. "This isn't a good idea."

"Just. Go." Walter clenched his jaw and waited until Happy slammed her wrench back down on her table, then grabbed her bag and marched out the door. After a moment, Sylvester and Toby followed.

"They really don't like this guy." Paige commented softly as the door shut. "Maybe you should have told them up front that he was coming." Walter nearly glared at her.

"Just saying," she added, surprised at the strength of his reaction, "secrets breed mistrust."

"I'll be fine." He told her as the final bell rang for the day. Knowing that if she didn't go to her office, Ralph was going to come to the Garage, she gave Walter one last concerned look before she too headed for the door. For some reason, she really didn't want Ralph in the same space as Collins (or Walter at the moment, if she was being honest).

The weekend flew by with Paige worrying about Walter and Ralph diving into his homework with gusto, occasionally trying to explain the purpose behind each assignment to Paige, who nodded as if she understood.

Monday came, and Paige took her time during their customary stop at Kovelsky's bakery.

"Mom, we're going to be late." Ralph told her with furrowed brows. "The travel time between the bakery and the school is fifteen to eighteen minutes, accounting for average traffic congestion. I won't have the necessary quantity of time to run optics tests with Walter."

"You know sweetie, I think the teachers at Scorpion are going to be pretty tired from their trip, so I don't think they'll have time for the tests either. You just go straight to class, okay? I'll tell Walter to wait and do the tests with you after school."

"Promise?"

"Scoop." She promised with a smile. When they got to the building, she kissed his forehead and sent him through the school doors.

Her smile faded as she cautiously made her way into the Garage, looking for signs of life.

"I have bagels," she called out, then turned as Happy emerged from her workspace.

"Where're the boys?" Paige asked as Happy rummaged in the bag for her asiago bagel.

"No clue. I haven't seen anyone yet."

"Not even..." Paige started, then gestured at the loft.

"Nope. Not that I care. He made his alliances clear." She muttered as Sylvester poked his head in around the door.

Paige frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Spotting the Kovelsky's label, Sylvester sped over and grabbed his plain bagel out of the special packaging he insisted on. "He didn't make it to Defcon." He explained.

"Seriously? Did he say why?"

Toby entered the Garage, scanning the premises before joining the conversation. "Nope. Not a call, not a text, not even a smoke signal."

Sighing, Paige took the bag (Toby squeaked in protest until she handed him a poppyseed bagel to smother in cream cheese) and headed upstairs.

"Walter?" She called, but heard no response. "Walter?" She spotted him in the kitchenette, scribbling feverishly.

"Walter. Walter!" Paige touched his shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What?" He demanded.

"I said your name four times." She told him as she realized he had the same clothes on from Friday.

"I'm fine." He brushed off her concern and turned back to his papers.

"So, you guys have been up here for..." Paige paused and decided to go with the more conservative estimate, "hours, no breaks, and I'll assume you skipped breakfast."

This time she was the one who jumped as Mark suddenly appeared next to them. "We're working here." He said almost possessively, then reached into the bag and pulled out the cinnamon raisin that Paige traditionally had.

Collins met her gaze, then asked coyly, "Oh, I'm sorry, was this yours?"

Knowing that she had no idea how to beat him at his mind games, Paige simply decided not to play. "No. Go ahead. I got extras in case you were hungry too." She smiled at him, then placed Walter's everything bagel on a napkin on the counter.

"Walter?" She tapped his arm gently, so as not to startle him again.

"Hmm?"

"Quick rundown. You were hostile to Cabe, rude to Toby, and uncaring about the fact that you skipped out on this weekend without telling anyone."

"They'll be fine." He spoke without looked away from his notes.

Paige bit her lip. "Walter-"

"Of course!" Mark shouted. "The Paley–Wiener theorem!" He ran across the room to a different set of notes on the coffee tables.

"Walter, you're making a lot of unilateral decisions to include a guy no one else wants."

"They can deal with it."

Paige looked over at where Collins was hunched over the table, shuffling papers, then back to Walter, who was in the same position.

"You obviously have a very different relationship with Collins than the others," she broached gently. "And you miss it since he left?" She guessed.

"Yes, exactly." He agreed absently.

"Or is it that he's now alone, and from the looks of it, living in squalor, and you feel bad for him?"

That got his attention. "You know I don't think emotionally. That's your job, okay?" He said shortly, jaw tense.

She tried not to take offense. "Which you're certainly not making it easy to do, by the way."

"Walter! Come see this!" Collins shouted from the couch.

Paige stopped Walter as he started to head over. "Just remember that you have a job here. At the school. Promise me this won't affect that."

"Yeah, yeah. I promise." He waved vaguely at her as he walked past.

"And remember to eat something!" She called out. Uneasy, but with nothing concrete to act on, Paige frowned and reluctantly made her way down the stairs.

Toby glanced up as she returned to the group. "I know that look. That is a Collins special."

"I don't think I like this guy." She said as she put the bag back down on the counter.

"Welcome to the club." Happy muttered.

"So what's the story with him?"

"He's what my teachers used to call me, a bad influence." Toby pointed dramatically.

Sylvester added, "He and Walter would push each other and just get lost in the work."

"Theoretical algorithms for days. No breaks, no food, no sleep. They'd barely speak. Sometimes we'd lose Walter for weeks." Happy explained bitterly.

Toby shook his head. "It's called a savant dissociative state. Not pretty."

"So he was like you guys, and then what?"

"Mark just disappeared. Thin air! Walter was pretty affected."

Paige tried to process what Toby was telling her. "And he just disappeared, no trace?"

Sylvester bit his lip in worry. "Walter wouldn't discuss it."

The bell rang, startling the group.

"I've got to go get ready for my class," Sylvester said, then started toward his desk.

"Your class?" Collins sardonically repeated from above. "And what exactly do you teach, Sylvester?"

Swallowing nervously, Sylvester managed to say, "We're focusing on th- the statistical theory of passive location systems."

Collins grinned. "Wow. Have you gotten smarter, Sylvester?"

The math teacher frowned. "I think I've always been this smart."

"Right." Collins agreed sarcastically. "And what about you, Happy? Teaching children how to rebuild motorcycle engines?"

Happy clenched her jaw and started to reach for a wrench when Toby stepped forward. "Hey, Collins, you lay off her or we've got an issue."

Paige tried to redirect the energy in the room. "Alright guys, let's go."

As Collins watched with an unsettling grin, Paige gently herded the rest of the teachers out of the Garage, Happy glaring behind her the whole way.

Letting out a long breath, Paige took a moment to reset herself, then went to go ask Serena, the front office manager a question about scheduling meetings with the students during classes. By the time she came back, she found Happy, Toby, and Sylvester in Walter's office, bickering amongst themselves. She tried to ignore them, but they weren't making any effort to keep their voices down.

"Sylvester, I swear, you spray disinfectant on the desk one more time and I will set it on fire." Happy snapped.

"Take it easy, pyro. He's a slave to his compulsions, just as you are to some of your violent tendencies." Toby leaned back in his creaking chair, taking up a good amount of room in the already cramped space.

"He sprays me again and I'll show you violent tendencies." She hissed, then stared at the desk. "'Rebuilding a motorcycle engine'. Collins always loved digging that knife in."

"You love rebuilding motorcycle engines." Toby told her, laughing slightly.

"It's hardly the breadth of my ability." She snarled, then sat down heavily. "Screw him."

"Guys, I've taken in the dimensions of this desk and determined how much surface area we can each use, and I'd like to point out that Toby is already taking up more than his fair share." Sylvester announced.

"Geez, narc. Fine. I'll share with Happy."

"No you will not."

"I can't calculate without order; it's my process!"

"Well, your process is going to have to share with my process, because Happy's doesn't play well with others."

"You wanna talk about not playing well with others Doc, I-"

"Enough!" Paige shouted, drawing all their attention. "You have been without Walter for less than half an hour and you are already at each other's throats! Sylvester, there is a empty cubicle next to my office. Arrange it however you like." The larger teacher scooped up his papers and disinfectant and rushed to his new space.

"Happy, no setting anything on fire. Toby, you can work on that half of the desk, and I want all four legs of that chair on the ground. If you bother Happy again, you will be banned from speaking. Are we clear?"

Toby reluctantly settled his chair, and Happy nodded in agreement. Sylvester peered over the cubicle wall and raised his hand.

Paige stared. "Yes?"

"Are you our new Walter?"

"I... guess. You braniacs can't agree on anything, so I'm stepping up."

Toby grinned then said, "Alright. Anything you say, boss."

The rest of the day passed fairly normally, with only occasional threats from Happy and extensive reorganizing by Sylvester. It was only at the end of the day, when Ralph came bouncing up that Paige remembered she had promised he could work with Walter after school.

"Hey, sweetie." She greeted, trying to come up with a way to say Walter was busy without disappointing her son.

"Hey Mom. I'm going to go run the optics test with Walter." He announced, then rushed to the Garage before Paige could say anything. She followed quickly, and opened the door to see Ralph staring at the undisturbed experiment in confusion. He scanned the Garage, clearly searching for Walter. When he looked back at her with a pitiful expression, she knew he was asking her to help.

Taking a deep breath, she peered up the stairs and called, "Walter?"

Ralph's face lit up as a figure appeared, then fell as he saw it wasn't the dark-haired teacher.

Collins stared down at Paige and Ralph, eyes calculating in a way Paige did not like at all. "We're busy." He said finally. "Go away and let us get some work done. We've had enough distractions today."

Paige glowered at Collins as he turned back to the loft, then watched Ralph's whole posture sink in disappointment.

"C'mon baby. Let's go get some ice cream, okay?"

He barely nodded, and Paige resisted sending another glare back at Collins. That night, when he disappeared into the bathroom to get her favorite color of polish so he could paint her nails, she bit her lip and hoped this was all worth three million dollars.

The next two mornings, Ralph didn't comment on the fact that Paige left the house just in time for him to get to class. In fact, he didn't really comment on anything.

On Wednesday afternoon, Paige was biting the end of her pen and answering emails when Ralph shuffled in to her office.

She blinked, then asked, "Hey Ralph. What's going on? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Ralph stared at the floor, then answered, "They let us out early."

"Oh? Why's that?"

When he did look at her, his face was heartbreaking. "Walter didn't come."

"Oh, sweetie," she said, then hugged him tightly.

Ralph sniffed. "Maybe there's something wrong with him."

"You know, I think you're right. Something _is_ wrong with him. I'm going to go check, and you go to the computer lab and get a head start on your homework before your next class, okay?"

He nodded, then Paige tried to smile at him as he walked back down the hall. The instant he was out of earshot, Paige swirled around in her chair to glare at the entrance to the Garage.

 _"Walter!"_ She barked, startling the other three teachers.

As they popped their heads out like curious meerkats, Happy remarked, "Whoa. For a moment I thought Cabe was back."

They trailed behind Paige as she marched into the Garage. "Walter O'Brien!"

"Oo, hear the combination of authority and anger in that command? That is textbook maternal defense – dampening of the typical stress responses and an increase in aggression when their young are threatened. Mama bear protecting her cubs."

Sylvester paused. "Are we cubs too?"

Toby and Happy both gave him looks.

Paige pounded up the stairs, fuming. She brushed past Collins before he could say anything and stormed over to Walter.

 _"Walter!"_ She shouted, which caused him to look up in alarm with unfocused eyes.

She waited a moment for him to at least look at her before she asked her next question.

"What day is it?" Her tone was impatient and full of barely restrained fury.

He blinked a few times, then stared at her. "Paige?" He said with slight confusion, which increased the amount of worry underlining her anger.

"What day is it, Walter?"

Glancing around for clues, he stalled, "I... it's... Oct-"

"The day of the week." She demanded, jaw clenched.

"Well, it's... Satur- Monday?" He hazarded.

"It's Wednesday, Walter. What do you have on Wednesdays?"

He froze like a deer in headlights. "I..."

"A class, Walter! You have a class!"

A moment passed of the same confusion, and then his eyes widened in realization. "Ralph's class." He winced as he looked at his watch.

"Yes! Ralph's class! So please explain to me why I have a heartbroken nine-year-old downstairs who thinks you don't like him any more, when you specifically promised me this wouldn't affect your job!"

"Paige, I didn't mean-"

"I don't care what you meant! These kids in your class may be geniuses but they are still children. And when someone they look up to ignores or forgets about them, they think it means that _they are not worth remembering_. That they are not important. So you are going to go shower and change, because you clearly haven't done either in a while, and you are going to apologize to Ralph. And then, on Friday when your class meets again, you will be there, and you will apologize to the rest of those kids."

"Paige-"

"Go!" She pointed at his room until he turned around, glancing back at his papers only once before he caught Paige's frown.

Once his door shut, she let out a long breath, closed her eyes, and tried to calm herself down.

"So, I'm still trying to piece out your role here." Paige looked up, startled, as Collins spoke from the corner of the room. "No offense, but you're clearly not a genius."

Paige made sure she was mentally settled before she answered. "No, but my son is enabled, like you."

"Ah. Walter's trying to repair his youth through your son." Collins' voice was pitying.

Furrowing her brow, Paige corrected, "No, he cares about Ralph, and Ralph is crazy about Walter."

Collins gave her an unhealthy smile. "Of course he is. Walter's the Pied Piper of geniuses. We all worship him. What he's capable of, how he makes us feel special for being special. That's why it hurts so much when he throws you away when he's done with you."

"Walter would never do something like that." She told him, but she wasn't as certain as she would have been a week ago.

After staring at the floor for a moment, Collins reminisced sadly. "I was his experiment, once. The highest IQ that he'd ever seen, other than his own. Until I couldn't color in the lines the way that he wanted me to, and then I was gone."

When he looked up, Paige took a step back at the intensity in his gaze. "How many times has he avoided conflict by telling you he's fine?" She froze, her mind suddenly replaying every time Walter had said those words when he was clearly lying.

"You get about a thousand 'I'm fine's before you realize that nothing is fine and you are getting shown the door." He advanced, then looked down at where Ralph had stood on Monday.

"And then you realize that you're an experiment, too. You and your son."

Paige stared at him. She wanted to say he was wrong. She wanted to _know_ that he was wrong, that Walter wouldn't do that to her, to Ralph. But after today...

She looked over and noticed Walter standing in his doorway with damp hair and an unreadable expression. Something in her gaze concerned him, as he furrowed his brows, then immediately looked to Collins in something that might have been anger.

"Mark, a word." He said tersely.

Collins followed him down the stairs, shooting Paige another unnerving smile. Walter pulled him aside beneath the loft's overhang, where Paige could still hear them clearly.

"By the way, thanks for letting me help with this."

Walter shifted. "It was efficient."

Collins gave a breath of a chuckle. "Some things never change." He looked around at the Garage. "Except now you're getting paid. School's coming together." He peered back up at Paige, who retreated instinctively.

"You got a girl." He finished, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

Walter stiffened and clenched his jaw. "You've been spending too much time in your basement."

Tilting his head, Collins moved closer. "Do you ever think about any of our old projects? We were making a lot of progress on our super symmetry theory. Maybe when we wrap up here, you could show me the new data?"

"Mark," Walter took a breath, "you need to leave."

The silence in the Garage was deafening.

"What?" The was an undercurrent of danger to the question.

"As much as I appreciate your help with this, this can't continue."

Collins visibly tensed. "Walter, you owe me. My life ended the day that you destroyed our partnership, our friendship!"

"You hate me for what I did. I get it. And I always debate my decision."

Collins stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Was that EQ, Walter? Who's been teaching you about the value of _emotions?_ " He sneered the last word.

"Paige." Walter answered simply. "She's always talking about how the school is bigger than just us, and... she's right. She makes us better."

"I made _you_ better, Walter. I showed you the outer limits of your intelligence and you couldn't handle it. You can't risk me, or anybody else, jeopardizing your team, your precious cyclone."

Paige was amazed at the honesty in Walter's voice when he responded, "They are worth it."

His calmness seemed to infuriate Collins. "Why them? Toby, Happy, Sylvester, they can't touch my abilities!"

Paige could see the other teachers shift in anger from their hiding spot in Happy's workspace.

"So why wasn't there room for one more?"

"But there was. Paige. She binds us."

"You're actually worried about other people?" His tone was contemptuous. "That's not the Walter O'Brien I remember."

Walter paused. "You're right. I'm not."

Collins glared, but Walter stood immovable. Collins gave a disquieting laugh. "Alright. I'll go." His eyes flicked up to Paige, then back. "But I won't be gone forever. Who knows? Maybe I'll see you back down the rabbit hole, Walter."

As he walked towards the door, Paige heard Walter say quietly, "I hope not."

There was a general sigh of relief as the door closed, and Paige cautiously made her way down the stairs to check on Walter. As she came around, she saw him staring at the door and biting his lip.

She tilted her head at him and called softly, "Hey. How're you doing?"

"I'm fin-" He started, then stopped himself. "I'll be okay."

Paige smiled at him. "Good." She glanced up as the bell rang. "I'm going to go get Ralph. And Walter," He looked over. "You should probably talk to them." She nodded toward the other teachers.

Walter watched Toby and Sylvester talk as Happy reorganized her tools. "Right. Paige?"

She looked at him inquisitively.

"Thank you."

Smiling, she said, "You're welcome," before leaving to go get Ralph. When she found him, she told him that Walter was feeling much better, and they were going to go get some food so everyone could have dinner together.

He swung her hand as they shopped, but even as she laughed and talked with him, she could still hear Collins' voice in the back of her mind.

 _"And then you realize that you're an experiment, too. You and your son."_

She looked at Ralph and contrasted how happy he was now to the last few days. Paige wasn't sure that Walter understood the responsibility that came with being able to affect her son that much.

When they came back to the Garage, she saw Toby reading two books at once, Happy welding, Sylvester working out equations on his chalkboard, and Walter working at his desk.

"Hey everyone!" She greeted as Ralph closed the door.

"Hey. Did we have a meeting scheduled?" Walter asked, clearly confused.

"Nope. But even after a day like today, you're still all lost in thought, doing your own separate projects. Tonight we have a group project; chicken piccata."

Sylvester walked toward the kitchen. "I don't think we have a chicken thermometer."

Toby sped over and offered, "Well, pizza would be more efficient."

"We're all going to get out of our own heads for a while and cook Italian." She knew cooking would get Collins out of her head for a little while, at least.

Walter narrowed his eyes. "Sounds... fine."

 _"You get about a thousand 'I'm fine's before you realize that nothing is fine and you are getting shown the door."_

She hid a wince, thinking that she should have gotten a bottle of wine at the store as a more effective way of silencing that metal voice.

"Walter, can you just..." She motioned to the side and he reluctantly followed her.

"O-kay."

Taking a deep breath, and trying not to reveal how raw she was from her encounter with Collins, she said, "If you're trying me out to see if I work with this team, this school-"

Walter looked concerned, "Paige-"

But she wanted to make her point clear. "If that's what's happening, and that I could end up being a failure and I could get discarded one day, just tell me. I can handle it." She made sure he was looking at her when she said the next part. "But don't do it to Ralph. He's grown attached to the team, especially you, and I don't want to see him hurt."

Walter blinked, then answered, "You are one of us. We can't do this without you."

She met his gaze and saw sincerity in his eyes (she tried to ignore how warm they were).

"Good?"

She nodded, and he smiled at her. "Let's go cook some chicken piccata."

She stopped him. "First, did you talk to the team?"

"Yes I did."

"Good. Go talk to Ralph."

Walter nodded and joined Ralph at the other end of the Garage. "Hey, Ralph."

"Hey Walter." He answered without looking up.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for not being at class today."

Ralph fiddled with one of the tools on the desk. "You still like teaching us?" He said finally.

"I really do. And I missed running experiments with you before school."

Ralph glanced at him. "Really?"

"Yes. And, I thought if you weren't too busy, that we could run optics tests tomorrow morning."

The boy's face lit up. "Yeah?"

Walter smiled. "Yeah. First thing tomorrow. Sound good?"

Nodding, Ralph put the table in order, then joined Walter as they walked back toward the kitchen.

"Hey, I've got a riddle for you." Walter said, and Ralph looked up at him with excitement.

"What kind of punch does a jellyfish like?"

It only took a few moments before the nine-year old answered, "A smack, because a group of them is called a smack of jellyfish."

Toby grinned and joined them. "You know a bunch of turtles is a bale?" He leaned in and whispered, "Don't ever bet on them."

Happy added, "Hippos hang out in a bloat."

Grinning, Sylvester explained, "A pride of lions and a parliament of owls."

"Army of ants." Paige called from the kitchen.

Walter bent down. "You know what a family of scorpions is called? A cyclone. Now, scorpions are very loyal to their cyclone. But if one of them is attacked, all the others dive in." He looked around at the gathered team. "And we, all of us, we're a cyclone."

The other adults grinned at him in acknowledgment.

Toby laughed, then clapped his hands together. "This cyclone is hungry! Let's make some food!"

Everyone moved over to the table, helping unpack and sort out the ingredients.

Happy handed a garlic press to Ralph. "Measure twice, cut once." She instructed.

"Can we talk about the so-called extra virgin olive oil industry? Beaucoup fraud." Toby exclaimed in mock outrage.

Ralph smashed the garlic with a thud, and Walter chuckled as he joined the group.

"Kid's a natural." He commented, and Paige watched as he fondly ruffled Ralph's hair. Her son smiled, and Paige's heart twisted. Maybe Walter being a part of their lives was a risk. Maybe he would hurt them again, no matter what he promised.

But as she looked at Walter and Ralph, and then at the other teachers talking and teasing as they helped make dinner, she thought that perhaps having a place like this – a family like this – was worth it.


End file.
